The essay industry is a booming business, with annual profits valued in the millions. The marketing flows behind the essay industry are complex. As well as writing staff to pay, there are advertisers, affiliates, student referral commissions and more. The whole essay writing service business is supported by ready-made websites, prepared writing services, tried-and-tested business models and hearty profits. The slides from this talk from the ICAI conference expand upon the research base into contract cheating and help to demonstrate why this thriving industry is so difficult to shut down.

1. 1#contractcheating
Contract Cheating And The Essay
Writing Industry
Where Does The Money Go?
Presented by Dr. Thomas Lancaster
at ICAI Inaugural Mediterranean Conference, Athens, Greece
on Thursday, 8 September 2016
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
@DrLancaster

2. 2#contractcheating
Exploring Academic
Ghostwriting, Essay Mills and
Thriving Marketing
Campaigns

3. 3#contractcheating
Contract Cheating – Defined Through
Examples

4. 4#contractcheating

5. 5#contractcheating
My Background And Credibility
By trade and enthusiasm, a Computer Science educator and
student experience advocate
By current employment, mainly an academic manager,
focused on marketing and student recruitment
Joined Coventry University in May 2016 as a Principal
Lecturer, previously worked at Birmingham City University
for many years as a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader
Other areas of academic interest including student
employability, professional online presences, social media
promotion, supporting software startup companies,
hackathons and entrepreneurship
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Not the best at publishing traditional academic research!
BBC South East Today– BBC1
Dispatches – Channel 4
Fake Britain – BBC1

6. 6#contractcheating
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrThomasLancaster
“Celebrating” 10 years of contract cheating research (2006 to 2016)
And 16 years of plagiarism and academic integrity research (2000 to 2016)

7. 7#contractcheating
Your Involvement Is Much Encouraged!
Twitter Please tweet observations, comments,
quotes, photos, discussion topics
#contractcheating
@DrLancaster
Live Please join in the discussion, ask
questions and contribute stories

8. 8#contractcheating
Today’s Presentation
A work in progress!
Not an attempt to repeat the last 10 years of contract cheating
research
Looks at available quantitative data associated with the essay writing
industry
Extent of the industry
Costs incurred by students looking to buy original work
Advertising costs, paid/free marketing techniques and referral commissions
Payment available to writers
Alternative methods that individuals use to make money through the essay
industry

9. 9#contractcheating
A Recent UK Development –
The Quality Assurance Agency

10. 10#contractcheating
Three Main Recommendations
• “Universities, colleges and sector
organisations should work in partnership to
tackle custom essay writing services”
• “The possibility of legislative approaches
should be investigated”
• “Companies selling advertising space
should reject approaches by sites selling
custom essays, and search engines should
limit access to these sites”

11. 11#contractcheating
Times Higher Education Report
“Thomas Lancaster, associate head of the School of
Computing, Electronics and Mathematics at Coventry
University and an expert on essay mills, said that the QAA
report was a ‘very positive move forward’ but added that
universities had an important role to play too, through
course design.”
Bar essay mills from advertising and search engines, says QAA
By Chris Havergal
August 18, 2016
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/bar-essay-mills-advertising-and-search-engines-says-qaa

12. 12#contractcheating
Mixed External Reaction

13. 13#contractcheating
Does money to research
contract cheating and to find
solutions to this problem?

14. 14#contractcheating
How Big Is The Essay Industry?

15. 15#contractcheating
It Was Already Substantial In 2006
“Our turnover for 2005 was £1.6m. In one week in early May
we took £90,000. One of our customers has spent £17,000 with
us. My overheads are pretty low because we work from home
and our writers work on commission. So I take about a third of
£1.6m.”
Barclay Littlewood
All Answers
Q: How do you make £1.6m a year and drive a Ferrari? A: Sell essays for £400
The Guardian, 29 July 2006
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/29/highereducation.education

16. 16#contractcheating
Recent Figures Have Become Yet More
Substantial
Annual revenues
above $100 million
Owings, S. and Nelson, J. (2014). The essay
industry. Mountain Plains Journal of Business and
Economics, General Research, 15
The EssayWriter boss believes
that the industry is worth £100
million a year
Daily Telegraph, 29 May 2016
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/05/29/essay-
writing-industry-booms-as-students-demand-tailor-made-cour
£200 million a year
business (quoted
based on UK Essays
figures)
Dr. Thomas Lancaster on UK TV Channel 4 Dispatches
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/dispatches-
investigation-reveals-extent-of-student-plagiarism
Writer states that they
produced more than 4000
essays between 2000 and
2010
http://www.thebestschools.org/resources/ghostwriting-
business-trade-standards-practices-secrets
Two writers stated $10,000 a
month earning at peak times
The New Cheating Economy
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 August
2016
1.5% of invoices said
to be over £5000
http://www.academicknowledge.com/becom
e-a-writer

17. 17#contractcheating
Contract Cheating Marketing
Techniques

18. 18#contractcheating
Assignment Service Marketing Funnel
New Student Lead Collected By
Assignment Production Service
Student Buys Original
Assignment
Student
Submits
Original
Assignment

19. 19#contractcheating
Exploring Four Sites Found In
Google

20. 20#contractcheating
Paid Advertising
(Google AdWords)

21. 21#contractcheating
The Paid Advertising Route

22. 22#contractcheating
The First 4
Paid
Advertisers
on Google

23. 23#contractcheating
Lead Capture And
Discounts

24. 24#contractcheating
Live(?) Chat

25. 25#contractcheating
Convincing
Testimonials

26. 26#contractcheating
Video Testimonials

27. 27#contractcheating
Sample Pricing

28. 28#contractcheating
Assignment Site Revenue And
Associated Worker Pay

29. 29#contractcheating
International Writers Can Be Salaried
“Workers are employed on salaries of 45,000 rupees (£324) a
month to work in two shifts — from 9am to 6pm, and a night
shift from 6pm to 3am. Required skills include ‘excellent English
writing skills in terms of language’.
To mask its Pakistani origins, Nexus set up a British company
called Nexuscorp Ltd with an address in a Folkestone business
park.”
Thousands of nurses cheat in exams
The Times,19 July 2016
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/thousands-of-nurses-cheat-in-exams-zzz2kzm77

30. 30#contractcheating
Essay Mill Aimed At Chinese Students In
The UK
Students in the UK pay essay companies £100 to
£300 per thousand words
The hired ghostwriters in China are paid £20 per
thousand words
Online essay mills targeting Chinese students
http://shine-a-light-on.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/online-essay-mills-targeting-
chinese.html

31. 31#contractcheating
http://www.thebestschools.org/resources/ghostwriting-business-
trade-standards-practices-secrets/

32. 32#contractcheating
Standard Pay Scales
EssayWriters.net

33. 33#contractcheating
Work Available In Major Essay Mills
Uvocorp Writerbay

34. 34#contractcheating
Alternative Promotion
Through Social Media

35. 35#contractcheating

36. 36#contractcheating
A Recent
Promotional Post

37. 37#contractcheating

38. 38#contractcheating

39. 39#contractcheating
Recent Projects for Marklai

40. 40#contractcheating
Tracking Information
Available About A Well-
Known Assignment Production
Service

41. 41#contractcheating
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/ukessays.com
What Information Is Available About The
Market Leader?

42. 42#contractcheating

43. 43#contractcheating
There Is Demand For “Highly
Paid” Writing Accounts

44. 44#contractcheating
Whole online
communities exist to
help people to
become “academic
writers”
This enables them to
work in this field
(providing contract
cheating services)

45. 45#contractcheating
https://www.damongo.com/Business/92/buy-registered-academic-writing-accounts

46. 46#contractcheating
A Lucrative Business Venture?
“Serious writers could make up to
$1,000 per week while others would
apply for the account and sale it at a
cost of $750 - $2,000 depending on the
level of the account.”
http://www.mybusinesstricks.com/2013/08/uvocorp-discriminates-kenyan-writers-in.html

47. 47#contractcheating
Or, You Can Set Up Your Own
Business…

48. 48#contractcheating
http://essaylancers.com/
Connect To Individual Writers

49. 49#contractcheating
https://wordpress.org/plugins/academic-writing-ordering-system
WordPress Plugin
Easily Operate Your Own Essay Mill

50. 50#contractcheating
What The Customer Sees What The Writers See

51. 51#contractcheating
Customer Referrals Are
Another Viable Business

52. 52#contractcheating
Referral Options At EssayPartner
Choice of
$21 per order
or
16%-25% per order
$100 for every new affiliate who refers 10
sales

53. 53#contractcheating
Russian Affiliate Programme
(Writing Provided in English)
Essay affiliate program: 75% of each new order,
35% of each rebill and 5% Referral commission
r/affiliateprograms

54. 54#contractcheating
The Available Options Create
Possibilities

55. 55#contractcheating
New Business Models Are Emerging In The
Contract Cheating Field
Services offering multiple sites
aimed at difference audiences
Sites taking orders, which are
then plugged into an existing
service to complete
Sites taking orders, which are
then outsourced (sub-
contractors)
Individual writers, who have
their own contacts for when
the workload gets heavy or is
outside their specialism
And many more…

56. 56#contractcheating
The Financial Flows Can Get Complex…
1
• Affiliate bids for essay traffic on Google AdWords sent to a fake review site
• Affiliate pays £3 a click
2
• Student clicks through “reviews” to essay mill sites, with 1 in 10 (10%) students making a purchase
• Site pays 40% commission for the referral
3
• Student orders a 2000 word (8 pages) reflective report
• Normal cost of £20 a page, site offers a 50% coupon
4
• Writers inside the site “bid” for the privilege of writing the reflective report
• Winning bidder proposes £3 a page, total earnings £24
5
• Reflective report is returned to the site, checked for plagiarism, reviewed by an editor
• Student receives the report and submits it for academic credit
• The student receives 60% and passes the module

57. 57#contractcheating
Everyone Gets Their Cut!
And this is just one of many
assignment site models to be
considered!
Student -£100
Affiliate +£10
Writer +£24
Google AdWords +£30
Essay Site +£36

58. 58#contractcheating
Does an understanding of how
essay sites develop and serve their
market help the sector to address
the £200+ million per year
business in contract cheating?

59. 59#contractcheating
More Resources Of Interest…

60. 60#contractcheating
References For My Main Contract
Cheating Publications
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015), Contract Cheating – The Outsourcing Of Assessed Student Work, in Handbook of Academic Integrity, Bretag, T. (editor): SpringerReference.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015),The Implications of Plagiarism and Contract Cheating for the Assessment of Database Modules. 13th International Workshop on Teaching, Learning and
Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2015), Birmingham, UK, July 2015.
Hersey, C. and Lancaster, T. (2015), The Online Industry of Paper Mills, Contract Cheating Services, and Auction Sites, Clute Institute International Education Conference, London, June 2015.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), An Observational Analysis Of The Range And Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online Courses Found On Agency Websites; 8th International Conference
on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS 2014), Birmingham City University, UK, July 2014.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), An Initial Analysis Of The Contextual Information Available Within Auction Posts On Contract Cheating Agency Websites, 28th IEEE International
Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, University of Victoria, May 2014
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), Using Turnitin As A Tool For Attribution In Cases Of Contract Cheating; 3rd Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, April 2014.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2013). Commercial Aspects Of Contract Cheating; 8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, University of Kent,
Canterbury, UK, July 2013.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2012). Dealing With Contract Cheating: A Question Of Attribution; 1st Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics, Imperial College, London, April 2012.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2010). Staff-Led Individualised Assessment – A Case Study; 11th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and Computer Sciences, Durham
University, August 2010.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2008). How to Succeed at Cheating Without Really Trying: Five Top Tips for Successful Cheating; 9th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information
and Computer Sciences, Liverpool Hope University, August 2008.
Clarke, R, and Lancaster, T (2007). Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating; The Second International Conference on Pervasive Computing and
Applications, Birmingham City University, July 2007.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007). Assessing Contract Cheating Through Auction Sites – A Computing Perspective; 8th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and
Computer Sciences, University of Southampton, August 2007.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007) The Phenomena of Contract Cheating, in Student Plagiarism in an Online World: Problems and solutions, Roberts, T. S. (editor), Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA:
Idea Group Inc.
Clarke, R and Lancaster, T (2006). Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism? Identifying The Usage Of Contract Cheating Sites; 2nd Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference
2006 - Newcastle, UK, June 2006.

61. 61#contractcheating
Upcoming Engagement
Thursday October 13, 2016
Curtin University, Australia
https://registrar.curtin.edu.au/events.cfm

62. 62#contractcheating
Speaker Bookings and Further Information
Dr. Thomas Lancaster Contact Details
Email: thomas.lancaster@coventry.ac.uk
Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
LinkedIn:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
Twitter: @DrLancaster
This session’s slides are available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
General Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_cheating
http://contractcheating.com
Contract Cheating Special Interest Group
(originally supported by the Higher Education
Academy):
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-
bin/webadmin?A0=CONTRACTCHEATING